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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Hunter Deceived by Nancy Corrigan

He was born to kill her...but he'll risk all to save her.

Every day, Harley fights the urge to embrace the dark heritage that could turn
her Unseelie. Evil. Bad. A nightmarish monster like the ones that wiped out her
family. The only thing keeping her on this side of Seelie is a promise made to
the ghostly man who saved her that terrible night.

Whenever she's tempted, she calls up a vision of his eyes. Hears his voice
calling her back from the brink of madness. Years later, when she returns to
the scene of her living hell, he's her only hope for salvation.

Calan, the leader of the Wild Hunt, was created to protect mankind from the
Unseelie Court, not love one of them. He never expected the rightness he felt
with her all those years ago would explode into desire.

But saving her from a fate she can't escape could damn them both...and leave
the world open for destruction.

Note: Originally published as Hunter Betrayed by Ellora's Cave. It has been
re-edited, expanded and re-titled as Hunter Deceived.

Warning: Contains a half-fae woman who could really use a Seelie version of
AA to stay clean and monster-free. And a rider of the Wild Hunt who'll take any
risk to keep her safe from her enemies. Including himself.

Angela – ☆☆☆☆☆
Although I have read several series that are based on Fae legends, Corrigan
managed to give Hunter Deceived some
twists that I haven’t encountered before. Because of this, I found myself
further engrossed in the book because while there are certain Fae rules that
are a constant from author to author – they are based on legends, after all –
it was the differences between the Seelie and Unseelie that the author made her
own that kept me glued to my Kindle as I raced to the end in a desperate need to
find out what fate would befall Harley and whether or not she and Calan would find
their way to one another. A word of warning – tissues were needed.

The book begins by giving the reader a look into Harley and Calan’s first
meeting – the night that Harley’s family is murdered, the night she learns of
her true heritage, and the night her struggle to resist the taint of her
Unseelie blood intensified. We then jump ahead nine years to learn that while
Harley has resisted the lure of the Unseelie, her journey to do so has been
hard fought as she has spent the intervening years being stalked by Raul, a
redcap, who has murdered several of those people she had gotten close to during
her frequent moves. But the wedding of Harley’s only surviving brother brings
her back to the family home and, in doing so, gives her the unexpected
opportunity to reunite with her “ghost man” – Calan – who she had convinced
herself was a figment of her imagination. The chemistry between Calan and
Harley was immediately palpable. Their passion was so intense that my Kindle
wasn’t the only thing that nearly overheated. Despite their long overdue reunion,
Harley and Calan are thrust into the battle of their lives for their souls, the
other Huntsmen, and the mortal realm and soon learn that the deck has been
stacked against them. Will their love save them or will it condemn them
forever?

Corrigan strikes a nice balance between the steamy eroticism that Harley and
Calan fall into when the need to connect overwhelms them with the intense
action in the battle between the Huntsmen and the Unseelie. I liked how Harley
and Calan served as one another’s anchor in the storm. Harley’s touch could
calm Calan when the fury of the Hunt took hold, while he could imbue her with
his essence (for want of a better word on my part) and give her the strength to
resist the pull of the Unseelie chaos. The constant action as Calan sought to
free his brethren and save Harley propelled the story forward at a constant
rate due to time not being on his side, yet the author avoided making the story
seemed rushed. My heart broke once Calan’s father revealed that he had been
tricked and the rules of the game had been changed on them, forcing Calan to
make a choice he didn’t want to make. But even that didn’t compare when Harley
was faced with the knowledge of how she could save them all. While Hunter Deceived doesn’t end on a
cliffhanger per se, we still don’t know the full consequences of Harley’s
actions. Corrigan has hooked me on the Wild Hunt series and I hope to bump Hunter Forsaken up on my reading
schedule as I’m fortunate enough to have a review copy already loaded on my
Kindle.

A true romantic at heart, Nancy Corrigan is convinced there’s a knight in
shining armor for every woman (or man), but you won’t find damsels in distress
in her stories. She adores pairing alpha heroes with women strong enough to
match them and bring them to their knees. She also enjoys flipping the
traditional roles in romances because her motto is—love and people should never
be forced to conform to anyone’s norm.

She holds a degree in chemistry and has worked in research but now focuses on
ensuring quality. She considers it the perfect outlet for her as she’s the
first to admit she has some OCD tendencies. It carries over into her writing
life too. While engrossed in a novel, she has a habit of forgetting to eat and
sleep. Fortunately, she’s married to her own knight in shining armor who
understands her oddities and loves her anyway. They reside in Pennsylvania with
their three children, dog, snake and guinea pigs. Her other interests include
tattoos, animals, classic cars and all things spooky and sexy.

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